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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Bee Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #326074
Title: Genomic and transcriptomic analysis of the Asian honeybee Apis cerana provides novel insights into honeybee biology

Author
item DIAO, QINGYUN - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item SUN, LIANGXIAN - Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China
item ZHENG, HUAJUN - Chinese National Human Genome Center At Shanghai
item XU, SHUFA - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item SHI, YUANYUAN - Zhejiang University
item WANG, YUEZHU - Zhejiang University
item MENG, FEI - Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China
item SANG, QINGLIANG - Chinese National Human Genome Center At Shanghai
item CAO, LIANFEI - Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China
item LIU, FANG - Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China
item ZHU, YONGQIANG - Zhejiang University
item LI, WENFENG - Zhejiang University
item Chen, Yanping - Judy
item LI, ZHIGUO - Fujian Agricultural & Forestry University
item DAI, CONGJIE - Chinese National Human Genome Center At Shanghai
item YANG, MINJUN - Zhejiang University
item CHEN, SHENGLU - Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China
item CHEN, RUNSHENG - Fujian Agricultural & Forestry University
item ZHANG, SHAOWU - The Australian National University
item Evans, Jay
item HUANG, QIANG - University Of Halle
item LIU, JIE - Fujian Agricultural & Forestry University
item WANG, SHENGYUE - Zhejiang University
item ZENG, ZHIJIANG - Jiangxi Agricultural University
item HU, FULIANG - Zhejiang Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item SU, SONGKUN - Fujian Agricultural & Forestry University
item CHEN, SHENGLU - Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China
item WU, JIE - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences

Submitted to: Scientific Reports
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/23/2017
Publication Date: 1/16/2018
Citation: Diao, Q., Sun, L., Zheng, H., Xu, S., Shi, Y., Wang, Y., Meng, F., Sang, Q., Cao, L., Liu, F., Zhu, Y., Li, W., Chen, Y., Li, Z., Dai, C., Yang, M., Chen, S., Chen, R., Zhang, S., Evans, J.D., Huang, Q., Liu, J., Wang, S., Zeng, Z., Hu, F., Su, S., Chen, S., Wu, J. 2018. Genomic and transcriptomic analysis of the Asian honeybee Apis cerana provides novel insights into honeybee biology. Scientific Reports. 8(1):822. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17338-6.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17338-6

Interpretive Summary: The Asian honey bee is a species of honey bees found in Asia. Here we present an analysis of a completed Asian honey bee genome sequence and comparative analysis with the genome sequence of the European honey bee which is the primarily managed pollinator of our agricultural system. The information obtained from this study provides an invaluable resource for understanding how the appearance, behaviors, and biology of Asian honey bees have evolved over time. The information also serves as a useful platform for facilitating the traits that are unique to Asian honey bees and are shared with other bee species for health improvement. The results obtained from this study should be of interest to researchers from academia and industry, apiary inspectors, and graduate students in the field of entomology and beekeeping society.

Technical Abstract: Apis cerana, an Asian honeybee closely related to European honey bees Apis mellifera, has evolved striking biological characteristics, including resistance to the parasitic Varroa mite, the most detrimental pest of A. mellifera. Here we present analysis of a draft genomic sequence for A. cerana comprising 229.5 mbp encoding 10,182 genes. The genome and RNA-seq data revealed the mechanism of resistance to Varroa , evolution of venom toxins and antimicrobial peptides, and genetic basis for caste determination and labor division in A. cerana. Comparison of A. cerana genes against genes of A. mellifera revealed that 433 genes are specific to A. cerana, 54.5% of which have no homology with any known proteins. This information provides a valuable platform to facilitate the traits unique to A. cerana as well as those shared with other social bees for health improvement and expands the understanding of genetic diversity and evolution across social bee species.